


Fire and Ice

by EssayOfThoughts



Series: Fics for Keeper [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Crack, Dragon on Giant Squid Sex, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 02:50:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9052300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EssayOfThoughts/pseuds/EssayOfThoughts
Summary: “Charlie…” Stepan says, staring somewhat glazedly at the lake. “Charlie, you never told me your school was this weird.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> A present for my dear friend [Sam](http://sam-keeper.tumblr.com/). Happy Christmas my dear.

It is not easy to remove a dragon from a place it has settled into.

It is especially hard to remove a nursing dragon who is grieving the loss of half of her eggs.

Deep in the Forbidden Forest a very displeased mother dragon curls protectively over her new-hatched young.

 

* * *

 

“Okay, we can’t get them out now,” Charlie says. “No way Mama Xia in there is gonna move until her hatchlings are feeding themselves. Same for the other dragons.”

Stepan swears under his breath in Romanian, curses the hard-headedness of Durmstrang students and Quidditch players until Charlie nudges him. 

“I was a Seeker too,” he says brightly. “And you’ve told me how weird Scholomance was.”

Stepan swears some more.

“Hey,” Charlie says, looping an arm around his friend’s shoulders. “At least this way we have an excuse to stay for the Yule Ball, right?”

Stepan looks askance at him. “At least,” he says, “With the dragons busy with their young, you won’t be able to try to take one to the Yule Ball.”

 

* * *

 

Mama Xia curls contentedly around her remaining young. She cannot get back the eggs that broke, but she, and the other three dragons, have settled into a comfortable  _ arrangement _ while they raise their new-hatched young. 

They will protect each other from the wizards, protect one another’s young from the wizards, and in exchange, they won’t attack each other.

Or, in the case of the Horntail, attempt to eat one another’s young.

* * *

 

“They’re all settled in,” Stepan says, crossing the clearing to Charlie. “Come on, let’s go to this Ball thing.”

 

* * *

 

Huge snake-like eyes watch the pair leave. A little way away various other wizards sit around fires or by tents, just out of the reach of flame. Further away still the castle shines. 

They’re not chained down anymore - even if they were to fly off, the wizards know they will return for their young, even the Horntail.

Xia stretches her wings.

 

* * *

 

“Charlie…” Stepan says, staring somewhat glazedly at the lake. “Charlie, you never told me your school was this weird.”

 

* * *

 

The lake is almost completely frozen over, but Xia knows the sounds she’s heard beneath its waters. It is like that of the vast red octopi that she remembers from her youth, the ones found between the coast and the far-off island.

She has a pretty good idea of what lies beneath the surface.

 

* * *

 

Charlie turns to see what Stepan is looking at. It’s hard to see much with the sky so dark - he’d almost forgotten how quickly it gets so dark in winter at Hogwarts - and it takes a moment for his eyes to focus on the winged silhouette over the lake.

“What the fuck,” Charlie says.

 

* * *

 

Among humans seeking contact from others to help deal with grief is a perfectly acceptable thing. Seeking company and sex is understood.

Among dragons… this is not so well known.

To be fair with dragons, the risk of violence is much greater.

Also, they weren’t known to go for squids.

 

* * *

 

“I think,” Charlie says as they watch the Squid and the dragon twisting around each other. “I think we may be seeing how a Snallygaster is made.”

 

* * *

 

Tentacles have a pretty easy time getting a grip on anything, really. Not that they’re well designed for it right off the bat - it’s the suckers that really allow for it - but it’s a functional system and it works. At one point the Squid tries to hold her wings but she won’t be having with that and bites the tentacle in question rather hard. The low keening noise the Squid makes is apology enough and the half-in-flight dance continues.

 

* * *

 

“Snallygasters,” Stepan says. “That’s those weird American dragons isn’t it. The ones with beaks and tentacles.”

Charlie nods, still watching.

“Oh,” Stepan says. “Well, fuck me.”

 

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments!


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